Chapter 5 BE MY GIRLFRIEND

EMBER'S POV

My brain stuttered.

"Fake girlfriend?" I repeated. "As in... pretend we're dating?"

Knox smiled as he'd already won a game I didn't know we were playing.

"You catch on fast, Ember."

The car slid through the icy city, neon and halogen smearing across the tinted windows. I half expected him to take it back, to say it was a joke, but King Knox was not a man who joked.

I stared at his profile - clean, sharp, intimidating as hell - and the last few hours tumbled through my head like dice in a rigged game.

I had crossed a line with this man. But lines didn't matter to him. He just redrew them to suit himself.

"I don't get it," I said, and my voice sounded thin, even to me. "Why me? You could have anyone-"

He cut a look my way, blue and entirely amused.

"That's exactly why it'll work. No one expects me to pick the omega wife of my own subordinate, especially not after tonight's spectacular airport meltdown."

He was right. It was the kind of ruthless power move that would keep every rumour mill spinning for months.

"But you don't even know me," I protested.

"I know enough." His eyes moved over me, slow and open, and my skin prickled with warmth. "I know you're smart enough to recognise an opportunity when you see one. Beautiful enough to make every alpha in that room burn with jealousy when I walk in with you on my arm." He leaned closer, the scent of winter and pine wrapping around me. "And I know I intend to make you mine. Everything else is just details."

I crossed my arms, suddenly intensely aware of how close we were in the dark cabin. My cheeks burned.

"It's only for a week," Knox said smoothly. "One week of holding hands at events and letting everyone believe you're my latest obsession. In exchange, you get protection, resources, and I'll make sure Gale never bothers you again. If you want the divorce, I'll have my legal team handle the paperwork. No strings."

A breathless laugh escaped me. "So your solution to my cheating husband problem is for me to become a kept woman for a week. That's genuinely your best idea?"

He shrugged, though his gaze stayed intense.

"The Christmas Summit starts tomorrow. You want to face Gale and his lawyers alone? Or do you want to walk into that resort on my arm and make him regret every breath he takes in front of every pack alpha on the continent?"

I went silent. The car's heater was blasting, but my hands were cold.

"What's the catch?" I asked because in this world, there was always a catch.

Knox leaned in, his voice dropping low.

"You do what I say. No arguments. That includes both public and private. If you're not up for the full girlfriend experience, find another saviour, princess."

His eyes dropped to my mouth, lingering there a half-second too long.

I couldn't breathe.

He wanted me as a prop, a possession, and a partner all rolled into one devastatingly dangerous package. The thought should have terrified me.

Instead, the heat that went through me turned my bones to water.

Sapphire was purring inside me, the little traitor.

I opened my mouth to argue, but the car was already slowing, pulling up a long drive lined with glittering evergreens.

At the end of the lane, a building rose out of the darkness - gargantuan, all glass and intimidating angles, every window ablaze with light.

Mystic Fire Winter Resort.

A valet sprinted to open the car door, and the freezing night air slapped my face, shocking me into the present.

Knox was out first, tossing keys to the valet and dropping a folded bill without a second glance.

He circled the car to my side and offered a hand. I ignored it because if I touched him right now, I might forget how to walk.

He didn't seem to mind. His hand settled on the small of my back, guiding me forward.

The entryway was a study in opulence - high glass ceilings, an enormous stone fireplace, entire trees inside the lobby hung with silver ornaments and glass moons.

A hush fell over the room.

The desk clerk looked up and went pale. Behind her, two men in tailored suits glanced over and dropped their voices. I wasn't an idiot.

Every eye in the place was on Lycan King Knox Volkov. And, by extension, on me.

We crossed the lobby, bypassed security, and stepped into a private elevator. The doors slid shut with a hiss. Knox hit the button for the top floor.

"Relax," he said, glancing sidelong at me.

"I am relaxed," I lied, my voice strangled.

His eyes swept down my body, lingering on the ruined state of my clothes, before he leaned in, his nose almost brushing my ear.

"Your heart is beating so fast I can hear it over the elevator, Ember. You really thought I wouldn't notice?"

My face went hot enough to melt glass.

He chuckled. "We'll have to do something to burn off all that nervous energy when we get to the suite."

The doors opened onto a private corridor carpeted in black. At the end stood double doors. Knox pushed them open without ceremony.

The penthouse was a cathedral of luxury - floor-to-ceiling windows boasting a view of the snow-covered valley, a modern fireplace already burning, a wet bar stocked with expensive crystal.

Every surface gleamed. Nothing out of place. It was the kind of space designed to make you feel small, and it was working.

He motioned for me to sit. My knees were shaking, so I did.

I didn't belong here. Not just in this room, but in this world.

I was wearing a wrinkled skirt, my skin still flushed with the aftermath of what we'd done, and I hadn't brushed my hair since I ran out of my house. Even my shoes looked pathetic against the white marble.

Knox fixed two drinks - whiskey, neat, no questions asked. He handed me a glass and perched on the arm of a leather chair across from me.

His suit jacket was unbuttoned, his blue eyes never leaving my face.

I was actually in a hotel room alone with the Lycan King. My mind was still reeling.

He waited until I'd taken two desperate sips before speaking.

"Here's how this works," he said, his tone suddenly businesslike. "We attend every event together for the next seven days. You do as I say in public and in private. You'll act like my girlfriend - no less, but also no more. When it's over, you get a check, and if you want a permanent job within my empire, you'll have it. If not, we part ways. I don't care if you fly off to Bali or start a new life entirely."

I took another gulp of whiskey. It burned, but in a grounding way.

"Why?" I asked because none of this added up. "Why bother with all this?"

Knox studied me over the rim of his glass. "You know who Rayana is?"

"Of course," I remembered her from the pack newsletters. Supermodel, business mogul, former companion of the Lycan King. The most gorgeous woman alive, according to every shifter gossip site. "She's your ex."

"'Ex' is a generous term," Knox said. "She's an obsession that refuses to die. She's back in Alaska, claiming she wants 'one last Christmas together.' She's told every elder in the northern territories that we're reuniting. She's milked the story for all it's worth, and if I don't play along, she'll make it a public spectacle."

"That sounds... dramatic."

"That sounds like blackmail," Knox corrected, deadpan. "So, I need a girlfriend. A real one. At least in the eyes of the media and the packs. Someone with just enough public scandal to be interesting, and just enough undeniable fire to make Rayana look like a fool."

It took me a second to realise he was talking about me.

"But you could have any woman you want," I said, and the words came out so small I wanted to bite my tongue.

He took a long swallow of whiskey, then set the glass down.

"That's the point. I want the one no one expects. I want to humiliate Gale, I want to drive Rayana from my doorstep, and I want a woman who won't lose her mind when the pressure is on."

I stared at him, my pulse fluttering.

"Why not just hire a professional?" I blurted.

Knox grinned viciously. "I did, once. She tried to blackmail me. I had her deported."

I believed him.

I weighed my options.

My alternatives were:

(a)go back to a cheap hotel and wait for Gale to ruin my life, or

(b) play the treasured, untouchable girlfriend to the Lycan King, wielding enough power and resources to make all my problems disappear.

"Say I agree," I hedged, setting my glass down. "What do you get out of this?"

Knox leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, the distance between us vanishing: "What do you think I get out of this, Ember?"

My mouth went completely dry.

"Pleasure."

He didn't deny it. "And you'll enjoy every second of it."

His arrogance should have been a turnoff, but the thrill of it caught me off guard. I wanted to see exactly how far he would go.

I closed my eyes, just for a second, trying to imagine the next week. The whispers, the high-society events, and the way the other omegas would stare at me with envy.

The way Gale would absolutely lose his mind. The way I'd wake up every morning in the arms of a man who looked at me like I was the only breathing thing in the room.

It wasn't a fantasy I had ever dared to dream, but now that it was laid out in front of me, I wanted it. Desperately.

"Okay," I said, lifting my chin. "But I have conditions."

He raised a dark eyebrow. "Let's hear them."

"One: You don't get to treat me like a prop. If I have to act like your girlfriend, I get to know what's going on. No secrets that'll make me look like a fool."

"Deal."

"Two: If this ends in disaster- and I mean real disaster- you help me disappear. No one should have to go back to Gale or face pack exile because their boss wanted to win a war with his ex."

Knox's lips curved. "You'd like Australia. Plenty of open space. I'll have you on a private flight in under an hour if it comes to that."

He definitely wasn't joking.

"And three..." My face burned so hot it could have melted the crystal glass. I forced myself to hold his blue gaze.

"You have to promise to bring me to the top every time. I need to see stars. No exceptions. Because Gale never cared enough to try, and I refuse to go back to being a sad, unfulfilled omega."

The silence stretched between us, thick enough to touch.

Then, Knox stood, crossing the space in two long strides. He was right in front of me, looming, heat rolling off him in waves.

He took my chin between his fingers, tilting my head back until I was forced to look up into his blazing eyes.

"That won't be a problem, darling," he murmured, his thumb brushing over my trembling lower lip. "In fact, starting tonight, I intend to ruin every low expectation that man ever set for you."